


Take My Hand, I Don't Want You To Fall

by KomaruNaegi



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Cameos From Other Franchises, F/F, Stupid and Oblivious Lesbianism, Tenko Chabashira Trying Her Best, Try and Spot Them!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 08:45:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17443646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KomaruNaegi/pseuds/KomaruNaegi
Summary: Chabashira finds out that Harukawa hasn't had a real birthday. She decides to change that.





	Take My Hand, I Don't Want You To Fall

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for [wlw-danganronpa-secretsanta](https://wlw-danganronpa-secretsanta.tumblr.com/) for [hitinmiss](https://hitinmiss.tumblr.com/) On tumblr! I hope you enjoy! <3
> 
> In this, Harumaki isn't an assassin - she's just a kid from an orphanage who recently got adopted.
> 
> P.S. - Italics (that aren't in quotes) = thoughts.

Orange-yellow light flitters through the windows and into the classroom, yellow-white dust dancing in the wavering sunbeams. The desks rest not in their typical rows, but rather in a disorganized cluster in the back, leaving a large space open and bare in the middle of the room. Chabashira, as diligent and energetic as ever, sweeps dust into a dustpan, brows furrowed slightly with a smile across her face.

Harukawa, some ten feet away from her, cleans the chalkboard. She slams the erasers against each other, the chalk dust surrounding her in white puffs, holding her breath in an attempt to stop herself from coughing.

“Ah, Harukawa-san!” Chabashira says, perking up. “Tenko never asked - when’s your birthday?”

“February 2nd,” she says curtly, not bothering to turn around as she sets the erasers down on the ledge at the bottom of the board.

“ _Oooh,_ that’s coming up soon! We should have a party!” Chabashira exclaims, clasping her hands together. The broom she had previously been holding bounces against the floor, the plastic making a soft thudding sound. She quickly squats, picks up the broom and holds it with a strong hold, her mouth in a line as she freezes still. Harukawa, who had turned her head around at the sound, goes back to the board, uninterested. Chabashira releases the tension in her shoulders with a sigh.

“...No thanks,” Harukawa replies, speaking to the board as opposed to her classmate. “I’m not a people person.”

“Aww, okay,” Chabashira says, clearly disappointed. She returns to cleaning, and silence lulls between them again.

“Wait, I have an idea!” she yells minutes later, causing Harukawa to stop her current task of pushing a desk back to where it should be. “We should have a private party!”

“...Like a date?”

Chabashira’s hands fly up in front of her beet red face in an attempt to defend herself. “ _No,_ no, not a date! Just a friend thing! Yeah! A friend thing...” she explains frantically.

Harukawa gives her a look, staring her down momentarily. Chabashira freezes in fear.

“I’d rather not,” Harukawa says, beginning to drag another desk to the front, “Not my kinda thing.”

“Well, then, what do you normally do for your birthday?”

Harukawa puts a finger to her chin. “Well, back at the orphanage, birthdays weren’t anything special. We’d get a slice of cake at the end of the day and sing Happy Birthday, but we still had to do our chores.”

“Harukawa-san, you’re an orphan?!” Chabashira shouts, baffled. “We’ve been classmates for half a year and you’ve never told me!”

“Was I supposed to?”

“Well, you should!” Chabashira retorts. She then lets out a sigh, trying to keep herself from getting too frustrated. She guessed Harukawa-san didn’t have to, but it would’ve been nice. “Look, you have to get out and do things! I’m going to make sure you make some friends before you get out of here. We’re going out on your birthday!”

“You’re too enthusiastic...” Harukawa complains. “But if it’ll make you happy, then, I guess I’ll go out with you.”

“Great!” Chabashira chirps. She scuttles over to a corner in the room, taking out a small notebook from her backpack. She quickly scribbles something down before ripping the paper out of the book, and then ripping said sheet in half.

“Here’s Tenko’s phone number. I’ll text you!”

Harukawa takes the two pieces of paper in her hand, staring at the black one quizzically. “What’s the blank one for?”

“Oh, it’s so you can give me your phone number!”

“Oh,” Harukawa mutters, staring at it momentarily before leaning over a desk to write her phone number down. “There.”

“Thankies!” Chabasira replies, clutching the paper. “We’re gonna have so much fun on... Uh, when’s the 2nd?”

“Sunday.”

“Sunday! We’re gonna have a blast on Sunday, so you better be ready, okay?”

“I guess. But can we get back to cleaning now?”

“Agh, Tenko forgot! Cleaning, cleaning! Here I come!”

Harukawa leans on her desk as she watches Chabashira rush back to the window, wiping it down with large, circular motions. She then continues her own work, pulling the desks back into rows as the sun descends further down into its rosy abyss.

* * *

That Sunday, Harukawa makes her way to the station.

She stands still for the most part, save for the occasional shiver. Her coat is of a maroon color, one of the puffy kinds, with black decals and zip up pockets.

“Ah, Harukawa-san!” Chabashira yells from a good fifteen feet away, her breath labored as she runs closer. Harukawa gives her a small grunt in response.

Chabashira skids to a halt, bending over at the waist as she lets out a sigh before perking up again. “Good to see you!”

“Why were you running?”

“Oh, um... Tenko overslept,” Chabashira admits sheepishly, her cheeks a light pink.

“You could’ve just texted me that.”

“Well, it is your birthday after all! I didn’t want to disappoint you by being late!”

The conversation stalls as the train pulls in, doors opening in front of them. They board quickly, Chabashira locating a pair of open seats that happen to be facing each other. She sits down, almost bouncing with excitement.

“I wouldn’t really care if you were late,” Harukawa says as the train takes off, going out from the station and into the morning sun. “I don’t get why my birthday is such a big deal to you anyway.”

“Well, even if it wasn’t your birthday! I’d still want to be on time, y’know?”

 _No, I don’t really know,_ Harukawa thinks, but keeps her mouth shut. “Where are we going anyway? You wouldn’t say what we were doing in your texts.”

“It’s a surprise, that’s why!” Chabashira explains a little too loudly, gaining a few stares from other passengers. Harukawa tells her to quiet down, causing Chabashira to whisper a quiet apology. “Anyway, Tenko hopes you like it!”

The rest of the eight minute ride is relatively silent. Chabashira then looks out the window before bouncing to her feet with a cry of “This is our stop!”

Harukawa, far less enthusiastic, takes to her feet as well, quickly getting off of the train before it speeds along the track seconds later. Chabashira takes out her phone, bringing up a navigational app. “Right this way! Follow me!”

Chabashira’s steps are energetic, almost march-like in manner, while her own are more quiet and hurried. It’s cold, bitterly so, but she learned long ago that complaining doesn’t get you anywhere, so she keeps her thoughts to herself. They continue like this, Chabashira jubilant and proud, Harukawa skirting around her as she eyes the sidewalk that unevenly rises with the roots of the trees.

“We’re here!” Chabashira shouts as the two arrive at a large, mostly, empty parking lot. Harukawa notes that it seems to be an ice skating rink by the name of “Family Ice.”

“An ice skating rink?” Harukawa asks as they make their way through the parking lot.

“Yup! Tenko thought something wintry would be fun!” Chabashira answers. “Not to worry, I’m an excellent ice skater! If you think you’ll fall, just hold my hand!”

Harukawa doesn’t bother pointing out the implications of that comment.

Though the parking lot looked rather empty, the rink itself is decently packed. A scruffy looking man ties his daughter’s skates a few feet away from the two as Chabashira looks for the reception desk.

“I don’t need one of those holdy-thingies, I promise!” a girl with light orange hair complains to two girls next to her. Her friends seem to disagree, the shorter of the two asking for “one of them ‘holding-thingies’, if ya will.”

Eventually the three leave, the redhead severely disappointed with the outcome, her taller friend reminding her that she had fallen on her face in the last visit. Chabashira then gives the clerk her shoe size, and Harukawa guesses she’d be about a size smaller. Chabahira then hands over the money to the clerk, who then thanks them before handing them each a pair of shoes.

“The shoes tend to run a little small, so just tell the clerk if you need to up your size,” Chabashira explains, walking over to a bench. “They won’t mind!”

Harukawa nods and sits down. Chabashira does the same, lacing up her shoes in record time, standing up on the blades with minimal difficulty. Harukawa, however, puts the laces in the wrong holes from time to time, and generally isn’t very fast.

“Do you need help, Harukawa-san?” Chabashira asks, turning around.

“No,” she grunts back. She’s definitely competent enough to put on ice skates.

“Okay, I’ll see you out there!”

Harukawa finally manages to lace her shoes up, only to find out that they’re too small. She groans, untying them as quickly as she can before shimmying them off and heading to the counter.

The exchange goes without hassle, exactly as Chabashira had said. She starts her walk back to the bench as she sees the girl from before, walking slowly on her skates. She wobbles back and forth before losing her balance, and Harukawa rushes in to catch her.

“Thank you...” the girl mutters, looking up at her. She has eyes, large but red like Harukawa’s own, and long gray hair that ends below her waist.

“Are you okay? Have you ever done this before?”

“No,” the girl answers. “I haven’t been here before... my dad took me.” She points to the scruffy man, who is now hunched over and adorned in a cat-eared beanie. He looks as if he’s struggling to stay awake as he watches the skaters on the rink.

“If you walk faster, you’ll be less likely to fall,” Harukawa advises, although she’s uncertain if that’s entirely true. The girl nods in confirmation as Harukawa releaser, standing up tall.

“Good luck out there,” she finds herself saying to the girl as she walks away. The girl turns around, her motions slowed by the skates, and waves Harukawa goodbye.

_Great advice coming from someone who’s never done this herself._

Minutes later and Harukawa finds her way to the rink, cautiously stepping out onto the ice. She tries to tell herself that this isn’t that scary, but she holds onto the rail with an iron grip.

“There you are!” Chabashira says, gliding over to her. “I was wondering when you’d get here. You ready to go?” she asks, pointing to the middle of the rink.

“I’ll stay here a bit longer,” Harukawa answers, using the wall to guide her along as opposed to using her feet.

“Oh, uh, I think you might be-“

Before Chabashira can finish her sentence, Harukawa’s fallen on her ass.

“Ow...” she whines, stretching out in pain as she collects her bearings. Chabashira skates towards her and bends down, a hand outstretched.

“Grab on. I’ll guide you!”

Deciding that she has nothing better to do, she takes it.The whole excursion ends up being a few more laps around the rink, hugging the wall and holding onto Chabashira’s hand. Near the end, Harukawa manages to gather enough courage to skate across the rink to the entrance, stumbling toward the opening. Chabashira claps as she steps out.

“Good work, Harukawa-san! I’m proud of you!”

“Thanks.”

The two then sit down, taking off their skates and stretching. They hand them back to the clerk, Harukawa looking back at the rink to see the girl and her father skating together. She smiles, enjoying the sight of the family more than she did skating herself.

* * *

“Tenko’s sorry if you didn’t like it... I’d just assume you’d have gone skating before!”

“It’s alright,” Harukawa says, turning out of the parking lot. “It’s not like you could’ve known that I haven’t been skating.”

The next few seconds are silent, save for the sound of boots against the pavement, and the occasional gust of wind.

“Oh, how about we get some hot food then! Like a pizza!” Chabashira suggests, clapping her hands.

“Sure, I guess. If you want,” Harukawa says curtly.

Chabashira stops in her tracks, Harukawa following soon after. The wind blows.

“Is something wrong? Did Tenko do something?”

“No, it’s fine, I’m just... I don’t really get why you bothered to do all this for me. Like, taking me out, paying for me, teaching me how to skate... It just seems like pointless work,” Harukawa relents, sighing.

“It’s not work! I wouldn’t be doing it if it were work!” Chabashira interjects, turning around. “It’s your birthday, you have to do something fun! I mean, you don’t have to, but like, you should!”

“You could’ve just assumed someone else would do something for me.”

“W-Well... Tenko likes you! So she doesn’t want to leave you all alone... I wanna make sure you get to experience all these things!”

Harukawa doesn’t respond. Chabashira flushes.

“W-W-Wait! I said that wrong. I mean, as in like, a friend! Tenko likes you as a friend! She’d do anything for you! Yeah!”

“You... like me?”

“Why would I not?” Chabashira asks. “You’re smart, and you’re cool, and you always do what you’re told without complaining-“

“You’re sounding like a teacher.”

“AGGH!” Chabashira shouts, somewhere between disappointed and angry, her head in her hands. “Look, I like you a lot, as a friend, and I feel bad for taking you out to do something you didn’t enjoy, so let’s go out for pizza ‘cause it’s safe, I mean, you have had pizza, right?”

Harukawa giggles.

“Don’t laugh at me! I’m serious! _Super serious!_ ”

“Pff, it’s just-“ Harukawa says, laughter breaking up her words, “you like me enough to do stupid things in front of me, even though you don’t really have any reason to. I could call you stupid and just go on home.”

“Well, you haven’t done that yet!”

That’s fair.

“Do you have a crush on me, or something?”

Chabashira blushes again. “I- Wh, Ah, Uh-“

She then turns around mechanically, her step even more march-like than before. “Pizza time! Pizza time!”

“You can’t ‘Pizza time’ your way out of talking to me.”

“Pizza time!”

Harukawa rolls her eyes, letting herself loose as she follows Chabashira for the second time today.

If birthdays are supposed to be like this, she can understand the hype behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> psa do not try to upload fanfiction on your ipad it will glitch out and get stuck scrolling and you will look like a dumbass
> 
> also this is the second time ive had harumaki slip and fall on ice in one of my fanfics. sorry harumaki


End file.
